Like everyone involved in hound trailing, I was saddened to hear this week of the death of Joe Mather, writes John Walsh.
Although he hadn’t been involved in the sport since 2004 when he parted with his beloved hounds, he had been one of the most respected trainers in the HTA for more than 50 years.
I was privileged to write a weekly column on the sport over a number of years.
Knowing very little about it, or few people involved, I was grateful for the help and support I received from several enthusiasts.
The sport is blessed with good people and Joe was up there as one of the best – a gentleman through and through and a man who know hound trailing inside out.
I remember featuring Joe in a column at the end of the 2004 season when he announced his retirement from the sport.
He had given his last two young hounds Music Maker and Loyalty to members in the Border Association, hoping they would get some fun out of them in the 2005 season.
At the time the Lamplugh handler was waiting for a fourth operation in two years on the leg which was so badly damaged in a fall on the ice when he was a youngster in Cleator.
It had got so bad that Joe couldn’t do anything with the hounds – slip them, catch them or clip them.
Although he had plenty of help when required Joe felt it just wasn’t the same when you can’t do things yourself.
I remember him saying: “I’m a bit like the footballer or rugby player who can’t play through injury and just isn’t interested in watching.”
In fact it was his own injury – a fractured hip which later developed TB in the bone – which prevented him from playing sports like football and rugby, but pointed him in the direction of hound trailing.
He was three years on his back in hospital in Windermere and after he got back home he just started going to the trails with his dad.
But he wasn’t one to complain because he said he’s had a great time in the sport with some wonderful memories.
He won over 100 trails and most of the big ones, so it was certainly a successful career in the sport.
Apart from the hounds, Joe also got a huge amount of fun out of his music – playing trumpet for various bands like the Music Makers and the Music Masters at venues throughout the county.
He even combined his music and his hounds, recalling one memorable occasion when he ran a hound and then took it in the back of the van when he and the rest of the band played at a hunt ball in Ireby.
The hound in question was Denver, one of Joe’s favourites, and a brother to the former champion Shannon.
When he retired Joe told me: “Shannon was the dog that set Victor Brownlee on his way and I lost count of the times that his litter brother Denver was second to him.
“I have no doubt that Shannon was the best dog I’ve seen in my time in the sport. Driving on the fells he would win trails by three minutes and was a phenomenal hound.”
As well as Denver, Joe was associated with a host of good hounds – notably Bandrake Reliant which he trained for Wils Procter to win the 1986 puppy championship with 37 wins.
Dance Along won the Bitch Produce in 1962; Heritage was runner-up to MacLintock in the senior championship in 1975 and Music Maker won the 2000 puppy trail at the Spadeadam International.
Bandrake Ruler and Caramac were other hounds whose achievements added to the Mather memory bank.
Joe spent the last few years of his life in a Workington care home, where my daughter worked, and he really enjoyed reminiscing with a collection of old HTA annuals which I passed onto him.
For many years Joe and his wife Rita ran the Fox and Hounds at Ennerdale and he was as well respected in the pub trade as he was in the world of hound trailing.
Joe was 85.
Condolences to Rita and sons Neil and Russell.
There will be a private family funeral on Friday, December 5 but afterwards friends are invited to the Melbreak Hotel, near Workington, from 2pm to celebrate and reminisce on Joe’s life, particularly within the hound trailing fraternity.
